Carbon County Commisioners are moving ahead on a countywide training facility for emergency responders.

On Thursday, the county commissioners voted on three items related to the proposed two-facility site, located on land around the current Emergency Management Agency.The board approved a proposal with Nor East Mapping Inc. of Kylertown, Pennsylvania; for aerial photography and mapping services of 124 acres, at a cost of $6,440.Commissioners approved an agreement with Carbon Engineering of Summit Hill for engineering services for land development work on the project.They also approved a proposal with Ralph W. Clay of Jim Thorpe for professional land surveying services of the site, with an estimated cost not to exceed $10,000.Commissioner William O'Gurek said the county is glad it is moving forward with the estimated $5 million to $10 million project."I have had a lot of real positive comments from people about this training facility," he said."It seems there is a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. As a commissioner, I am just as excited as this represents, from Carbon County, a commitment toward our emergency services."Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said he has seen a lot of support from the municipalities and emergency responders through the letters of support the county asked local officials to write.He said the reason for the aerial photography is to provide a more accurate layout and contour of the land for site preparations. The photography will take place in the next few weeks before the trees get their leaves.Following that, surveying and other site preparation work will take place as the Delta Development Group, the company hired by the county in February, continues to look at securing possible funding sources.Nothstein said that it is anticipated that work on the project will begin in 2016 with the widening of the current access road on the property; with construction of the two buildings estimated to begin in 2017.He thanked everyone for their support with the project and said this will be a jewel for the county once it is complete.The firing training facility, which has been in the works since 2008, will eventually be located on approximately 12 acres of land on the Broad Mountain and will provide fire departments with live fire training sites, a drill tower and other training necessities, as well as give police, county departments and EMS services classroom and training options that normally are completed in other counties.The conceptual design plans call for widening the current road to the Emergency Management Agency/911 Communications Center to allow for additional traffic to the two new sites; constructing an approximately 3.8-acre fire training facility with a training building and drill areas and a two-story multiuse building that would be the new house of the EMA and Emergency Operations Center, as well as classrooms, meeting areas, vehicle and apparatus parking garages; and a stormwater management facility that would recycle water that is collected as available water for live fire training.Commissioners project that with the help of Delta, the project should be funded mainly through state and federal money and should not have a significant local cost on the taxpayers.In a related matter, Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard announced that the county firing range, which was constructed behind the prison on the Broad Mountain, is ready for use and will be used by the prison's corrections officers for recertification training from April 27 to May 1."We're excited about the range going to be used," he said.The county has been working on constructing the private firing range since last year.The range will be used by corrections officers, sheriff's deputies, adult and juvenile probation officers and the Nesquehoning Police Department for training purposes and will be used a few weeks a year.